


Edward Orson: Storm of the Living Gemstones Part 4

by Greyforrester



Series: Edward Orson Stories [5]
Category: Doctor Who, Guyver, Hellsing, Star Trek, Star Wars - All Media Types, Steven Universe (Cartoon), 宝石の国 | Houseki no Kuni | Land of the Lustrous (Anime & Manga)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:41:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23491852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greyforrester/pseuds/Greyforrester
Summary: Edward and Vert arrive in a bizzare pocket reality like their home, where the living Reality GemStone resides. But they're unable to attain it without Vert dying and Alucard arriving with the other three.
Relationships: Original Character & Original Character
Series: Edward Orson Stories [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1688788





	Edward Orson: Storm of the Living Gemstones Part 4

**Author's Note:**

> Content warning: contains a breif sex scene.

**Part 4:**

**Chapter 16: … Out To Lunch**

The Reality GemStone had eluded Edward and Veritas once again. The woman, as much a billowy gas as she was human, drifted off the stone water tower the two stood atop before literally vanishing into thin air. The tower's top began to droop and sway, Edward took Veritas and thrust Stormbreaker into the air, sending them soaring up and across the warped landscape; a landscape that resembled his town but consistently disobeyed the law of physics, the landscape curved into tunnels like the veins and arteries of the human body, clouds flowed between them like blood cells, rivers flowed back upon themselves, buildings and roads would end abruptly, almost as if stitched together; all with no concern for logic

They landed on the side of a building and watched as the tower melted into the ground.

“We're too late, again,” Edward said.

“We'll catch her eventually,” Veritas replied.

“No, she's not our concern, now. There just isn't enough time.” He said. He took the cannon off his right arm and clenched the bejewelled gauntlet, the orange gem began to glow. “He's here.”

Before Veritas could ask, a mass of spiky, chitinous hide burst through the ground. Standing above its round, starfish-like maw was a man in a blood red jacket, hat and round sunglasses, his pale face flashed a grin as he turned towards the duo. Wrapped around a chain on his wrist were three Infinity GemStones, Time, Mind and Space. Edward breathed a laboured sigh and propelled himself towards the man and monster. He thew Stormbreaker, axe-first, at the chest of the man in red. He clutched it as it sank into his flesh and looked back at his would-be-assailant.

“Edward!” he smiled, savouring the name before it left his tongue. “You missed the party on Ea-”

“I know. Just get on with it, already.” He uttered dryly.

“It's as I foresaw; the remaining Infinity GemStones, all in one place... and an extra?” Alucard stared intently at the green stone on Edward's left hand. Ed clenched his right hand and shot a beam of purple energy at him. The Space stone flashed and redirected the beam back at him. Veritas landed at the path of the shot, the beam penetrating her and smashing into Edward anyway. A dark blue miasma clouded the axe embedded in the red man's chest and sent it flying away. He then detached from the larger creature and walked up to the two lying on the gound, walking on legs made form the same hard matter as the mass he rode in on. “WHY do you not FIGHT?” he growled.

“Seems pointless, Alucard. You have half the Infinity GemStones, so you've won,” he answered, lethargically, “this is yet another reality you can devour, congratulations.”

This incensed Alucard, “I do not DEVOUR REALITIES for fun, I have little interest in the GemStones, and learning the nature of the steed to which I am intrinsically linked has SICKENED me. SO many NOBLE civilisations, laid low by monsters like it. GALLIFREY ITSELF once was menaced by one of these creatures, their primordial ancestors called it LAVOS. MEN who were so existentially TERRIFIED that they warped TIME and SPACE to fight it and to attain GODHOOD.... JUST. LIKE. YOU. Do I drive you so mad that you STEAL these six FIRES from the GODS to fight me?”

“You and I aren't so different, Alucard. Except where you chose to ride on the back of the monster, I chose to arm myself and stand in front of its jaws. So just fuckin' let it eat me already.” Edward muttered, defeated.

“No!” Alucard barked as he hoisted the body of Veritas' to his mouth. Edward's eyes widened and he jumped to his feet.

“You let her go, you son-of-a-bitch!” Ed growled as he shoved a blade up to Alucard's throat.

“There it is, the piss and vinegar I love seeing from humans!” Alucard's grin returned.

Edward drew Stormbreaker into his left hand, swinging it to dismember him and free Vert's body. He then shoved the gauntlet into his chest, the energy from the two gems began to seep out onto Alucard. He let out a bellow before gritting his teeth. He shoved his other, bejewelled hand onto Edward's throat, causing him to withdraw the gauntlet. Ed then snatched one of the gems and placed it on it. His mind became clouded as an innumerable amount of thoughts flooded in. Three beams of light burst forth from his hand as he clenched it again, sending Alucard flying back onto the bug-like creature.

Edward's mind swam with thousands upon thousands of thoughts. Before him appeared a vision of himself.

“Yeah, I bet it's never been this bad before, while you had the Mind GemStone.” The reflection stated. Edward glanced at his right hand, noticing the light blue stone sitting in the centre of his gauntlet.

“Will you give me the other stones now?” Edward said.

“Hah, no,” the crimson vampire replied bluntly, turning to toss the Space and Time stones into the maw of his ride.

“No! Goddammit, why? Do you know what you've done!?” Edward cried out, arm outstretched.

“I do, I just don't care. I can jump into another reality after I'm done consuming what's left of this one.”

Edward looked around him, noticing the sounds and motion of the river had ceased. He slumped to his feet again. As the landscape began to fly apart and compress into nothingness round him he looked at the gems on his gauntlet, he clenched his hand causing the light-blue gem to glow. “I can do it! I know how to get the other stones.” Edward declared triumphantly. He closed his eyes as if he were drifting off to sleep, he opened his eyes again to see Veritas standing nearby.

“How'd it go?” she asked.

“The Reality GemStone lead us on a chase for days, we just can't catch her. Not by playing checkers or chess, metaphorically speaking. Some asshole always comes along and flips the board and that asshole is Alucard.” Edward grew tense and aggravated, “He always crashes in, he always has the three GemStones and he always beats me before going after her. But this time I managed to snatch the Mind GemStone off of Alucard, b-but,” he abruptly stopped his report, “in order to catch him off-guard, you,” he gulped, “you died.”

“Oh,”

“I won't have it, I won't lose you. I'll find a way to get her and I need to draw Alucard here to do it.”

“What? No, don't,” Veritas protested, “It's my choice whether to sacrifice myself, not your's.”

“You die and who remembers you? When you made the choice to stand by my side you condemned yourself to be forgotten, the hanger-on of a madman during the nadir of his spiral. Hated and a hater of heroes, and a lover of villains. A man who invited the abyss into-”

She struck his face with an open hand.

“You love ME don't you? Am I a villain? Stop wallowing in your own self-pity and DO som- oh no!” she gasped

Edward held his hand to where she hit him, staggering sideways. “I guess I needed that.” He said deliriously, before collapsing.

He woke up and stood, shakily, on his feet again. He shook his head, quipping, “Also, to answer your question, you're pale as fuck and have the hair of a raven, you look pretty damned villainous.” He shot a wry grin at her, adding, “Jeez, try to hold back next time, will ya?”

Veritas smiled and nodded her head. Edward clenched his hand again and the two gems glowed, “all we can do is wait. C'mon, let's head for my house, if this place actually resembles my town, it should be about a half-hour's walk from here.”

The two were travelling between thick forestry and road. Edward and Vert walked, single file, with Vert lagging several paces behind him. He turned to her and asked, “Do you wanna go down this road coming up, so we can see if we get a bite to eat, or do you just wanna head straight home?”. Again Vert just smiled and kept silent. Edward decided to keep heading forward. When they inevitably turned, the path curved overtly upwards to the point where they could see where they came from as they stood at the road home.

The two had arrived home and Ed began to place all his newly-forged weapons beside or atop the table. Vert stared, mouth slightly agape at the armoury that covered the furniture. “What? This ain't actually my house so my parent's won't exactly just come barging in. I just need to clear my head before I decide to go out again.”

“Why do you need the Reality GemStone?” Vert asked.

“Well, I need the six to undo the damage that they're doing, or will be done with them.”

“What damage?”

“A few days from now, Alucard; y'know, the freakily powerful vampire, he comes here and he has the other three stones and in some futures he says he destroyed Earth. All that's moot because he seems pretty keen to feed whatever stones he has to that monster he's with.”

“A few days? What do you mean by that?”

“Well, I assume time's still a thing here, 'three days' just an estimate. Anyway, shit's going down on Earth and it's going down _fast_ , I need every stone to fix that mess thoroughly.

Edward then heard the sound of the garage door being lifted open. He then spotted, from the dining room table, through the kitchen, two people, an old man and a middle-aged woman walk through the front door. The woman, in shock, dropped the bags she carried. Edward looked back at them, similarly shocked.

“'Oh welcome home father dearest', 'thank you, son'” the old man said sarcastically, “what the hell is all this you have on the table and what are you wearing?”

Edward looked the old man in the eyes briefly before he looked away. “They're mine, except the axe hammer thing. I'm borrowing it,” he mumbled to no-one, while he walked over to pick up the bags.

“Well, you haven't answered anything yet.”

“'cuz, I don't owe you shit,” Ed shot back, placing the bags on the couch he summoned Stormbreaker and held it up to the old man's throat.

“Edward, what are you doing?” Vert asked, saddened and shocked.

“I barely take this level of crap from the real thing, I sure as hell ain't taking it from a figment of someone's imagination.” He snapped.

“Check him for a soul, an illusion wouldn't have one.” Vert implored.

Edward clenched the gauntlet, the orange gem glowed. He backed off and looked away. He tossed the Hammer-Axe onto a chair and sat back at the table.

“First day of school. I was stalked by what turned out to be a lesser demon witch. A few people in different coloured uniforms jumped out of nowhere just as she was about to grab me. Eventually I went from being an observer in these conflicts to actively participating in them.” He explained.

“Why didn't you tell us?” his father asked.

“Because for about 12 years there was a seal on earth, most of you couldn't even **see** what was going on. In the middle of 2008 it got weakened considerably, but by then I was well and truly used to keeping the two halves of me separate.”

His father stood up and opened his arms out. Edward picked up one of his dwarf-forged guns and, without looking in her direction, he shot the image of his mother. The other two stood back in shock.

“Why would you do that?” His father asked, outraged.

“Because, the image of her has been used a few times to manipulate me, call it a finely attuned 'uncanny valley' instinct. I will **not** be toyed with, especially with her visage. Alongside all that, Alucard will be here very soon, I've decided I'd rather deal with him as soon as I can and try to acquire the rest of the Infinity GemStones. Maybe I can use my Truth Gem as a substitute.”

Edward equipped his weapons again and marched out of the house. Vert ran out in pursuit.

“What were you thinking, shooting her?”

“I was thinking of the fact that the amount of souls in this area hadn't changed at all. That goddamned red bitch was impersonating my father.”

The landscape in the distance burst apart. Alucard and the beast emerged from the wreck, crashing down in front of them. Veritas stood in front of Edward as Alucard extended an arm, the Space GemStone embedded in his palm. A beam of energy shot out of it, penetrating her and knocking her to the ground. Edward clenched Stormbreaker and glared at him.

“I thought that'd light a fire in you, do it! Kill me!” Alucard commanded him.

Edward tossed Stormbreaker at him, however he merely redirected it. Ed then unsheathed his curved bladed sword and charged at him. Alucard vanished into mist, blanketing him and the surrounding area. Edward summoned Iustitia and began to fire purple energy into the air and ground. The miasma converged on the motionless body of Veritas, lifting her up as he reformed into his (vaguely) human self.

“You drop her now, Alucard!” Edward demanded, aiming his arm cannon at him. Alucard then lurched back, dropping the young pale woman. A sword erupted from his sternum, out from behind him emerged Veritas, alive and well. The body bearing Veritas' likeness stood up and telekinetically lifted Alucard, to his incredulity. He looked in his hand, watching the dark-blue gem dissolve into red energy. The other three spotted a glowing object in her hand, she lifted it to her other eye and forced it inside the socket. Vert removed her sword and the red woman shoved the vampire into a wall. She then turned to Veritas as her bejewelled eyes began to glow. Edward dove in front of his Blade, taking the red and dark blue blasts.

“Urh, I timed that well, didn't I?” Edward grinned briefly before reeling from the pain.

“You bitch!” Veritas screeched, “You could've just taken the stone and left, but you just had to make an attempt on my life, didn't you?”

The red woman opened a portal and stepped through it, Vert stood over Ed to pursue her but was stopped when he grabbed her arm. Edward reached up to Veritas' head with his left hand, wrapping it around her forehead. Next thing she knew she was standing in front of the red woman, she only had one gem in her eye.

“Are you okay?” the crimson chick asked.

“No.” she simply replied, disoriented. She looked around placing herself on top of a brick water tower, with the landscape on the 'walls' around her. “An hour from now, you try to kill me. I thought you were trying to protect someone but you're just interested in protecting yourself, aren't you?”

“I want my sisters,” she crooned.

“Then why are you hiding here? Why don't you meet with the man who has two of them?”

“He subjugates them, he steals their power.”

“That'd be fine if it weren't for the fact that Power tried to wreck a planet. Soul tried to start a cult. Time took Mind and made puppets of people Edward works with. Finally, when Soul took Power, she killed countless people and he had to bond both of them to his gauntlet to undo it.”

“This would not have happened if he had not stolen our power.”

Vert exploded at her, “At least he's doing his damnedest to fix this mess, all you're doing is being a coward. You can't run away from people who wish to use you forever, eventually you're going to have to turn around and fight, or have people fight for you! Edward and I would be fine with either. Case-in-point; Alucard's coming here and he has the Space GemStone. Ed brought him here to lure him away from the gems on Earth!”

“Then he has killed me,” the red girl despaired, “unless.... I kill him.”

Elsewhere, Edward awoke, “Also, to answ-, wait....” to find himself alone in the park. “Dammit, Vert, where are you?” he asked, muttering to himself. He clenched his gauntlet hand, causing the purple and orange gems to glow briefly.

Almost an hour later, he had arrived at his house, or what looked a lot like his house. Inside he took off his weapons, placing them on the dining room table. He heard the garage door open, deciding the wait until whoever was arriving to head inside the house. From across the kitchen he saw one head, with short, slicked red hair surrounded by stubble.

“The Reality GemStone, I assume,” He welcomed, holding out his right hand. A pair of spikes materialised form behind her and shot at him, impaling him against a wall. Edward drew the double-ended sword towards him and wiped at the spikes behind his back, freeing himself. He then threw it at her, she vanished into red gas. The ceiling began to rise, the walls extending in height with it. Ed found himself flung by shifted gravity against the wall again.

“Dammit, red. I can hurt you from anywhere, but I won't if you cease-and-desist.” He negotiated.

“So you seek to subjugate me, too?”

“You've gone mad, and it's my fault but give me the chance to set it right.” He pleaded.

They heard an eruption outside. Edward fell back to the floor and hastily re-equipped his weapons. He smashed through the front walls, as he emerged outside he saw that Alucard and his monstrous mount had arrived in front of the house.

“Just hand the stone over, Alucard.” Edward asked, trying to stay calm.

“I've seen what these stones do to people. They turn them.... nasty, evil. You posses two, and one you made. Add it up,” he grumbled.

“You took it off a girl, didn't you? Was she a monster?” He asked, pointedly.

Alucard flashed a wide, shameless grin, “They're all monsters and I'm the monster they all fear, I'll gather the stones and feed them to my companion here.”

Edward pelted Stormbreaker at him, who redirected it, sending it flying away from them. He then extended his arm, holding the Space GemStone in it's palm. He shot a blast at Edward, but the red girl materialised in front of him and took the attack herself. Edward charged at him, yelling so loud as to echo his voice around the warped landscape. Alucard dissolved into mist and surrounded him. He reformed around the red girl, who floatated, suspended in the air. Her eyes opened suddenly and she writhed and struggled, breaking herself out of Alucard's grip. She stood next to Edward then handed him a glowing dark blue stone, he took it, marvelling at it. Alucard and Edward looked at the dark blue stones in their own hands in confoundement. Edward placed the dark blue stone in the gauntlet's slot under his ring finger.

Edward clenched the gauntlet, the purple and dark blue gems glowed, vanishing Alucard and his monstrous steed. “Well, the good news here is I finally get to meet you, 'Red'. Bad news is that it had to be from you and my Blade conspiring to gaslight me, not cool,” he said, cooly but also displeased.

“I saw your world when I held my sister. Our sibling of the Time GemStone seems unwilling to maintain a union with our sister of the Mind. Entwine me with the gauntlet and rid me of the burden of sentience,” the red girl pleaded. Edward acquiesced, holding out the gauntlet and clenching it again, the dark blue stone glowed and the red stone sublimated into a stream of red gas, flowing into the slot under the metal glove's little finger. Vert landed next to Edward, who opened a portal, inviting Vert through as the warped landscape around them began to fade into the cosmos.

**Chapter 16: The Blitz of Burrah**

Edward and Veritas exited the portal, stepping out onto the lunar surface and surveying Earth. They could see the flashes close to the atmosphere. The eyes on Edward's armour were able to zoom in for further detail, he could see dozens of star tetrahedron ships engaging in battle with what he recognised as his X-304's.

“All ships, I repeat, all ships. I ask that you disentangle with the enemy, stat. I need to get a clear shot on them.” He transmitted.

“Edward? Is that you?” Amniculus asked in disbelief, “This is General Amniculus, I second that order, disentangle immediately. I hope you've got something good!”

Edward leapt high above the moon as he pointed Iustitia in the direction of the sun. After holding the arm cannon for a few seconds, a stream of blinding light shot from the stellar mass into his arm cannon and as it absorbed the energy it began to emit a rich yellow glow. Edward then aimed it into the middle of the mass of star-shaped ships.

“Just give me the word, General,” Edward strained against the unstable energy in his weapon.

“I've ordered all ships divert power to shields, do it!” He said.

Ed released the solar energy, as it flew through space it divided into dozens of thinner streams. Each one impacted with the star ships, penetrating their shields and into the ships themselves, turning them white hot and disintegrating them. Edward opened a portal for himself and Veritas to the bridge of the Ark II.

“General, sit-rep,” Edward ordered, skipping no beats.

“Just as we were done dealing with the leviathans and in the middle of engaging turncoats, these ships emerge from the wormholes that the leviathans left behind and began attacking indiscriminately. They told us it was 'futile' to resist but I ordered that we did anyway, they slowly whittled us down over the day until you showed up and killed them in one stroke,” Amniculus recapped. “I need to know how you did that!”

“This cannon on my arm is equipped with miniaturised Coruscant Empire remnant tech; the 'Starkiller', focus solar energy into a narrow beam and you have an incredibly destructive weapon.”

“Well, I'm afraid you missed the ship that's floating above your hometown right now.” the General advised.

“I can't use Starkiller in an atmosphere, far too much collateral damage.”

“Sir,” an operator began, “we're being hailed by the Titor.”

“We have a ship called the Titor?” Edward asked, confused.

An image of man with slick hair and raised eyebrow-ends appeared in front of them.

“Captain Sirrok, I just wanted to inform you that we'll be prioritising the Borg vessel in the atmosphere. We apologise for how callous this sounds, but we recommend you sort your turncoat mess out yourself.” The Romulan captain informed them.

“Were the hell did Moe the stooge come from?” Edward asked, mystified.

“Earth, more or less,” Sirrok replied in amusement before his image vanished from the screen.

“Sir, I have seriously bad news for you.” Amniculus began, his tone turned sombre, “It's the Doctor, and I mean THE Doctor.” Edward bafflement turned into deep concern. “That man told us that he's the one behind the Borg attack.”

“Impossible,” he dismissed, “the last thing the Doc would do is go to war, especially with Earth, he likes the place too much.”

“It's not just that, I assume you'd want to know where the Mind GemStone is. It's been detected within the Borg ship in the atmosphere.”

“Beam it out,” Edward ordered.

“It's not that simple,” Amniculus' frustration grew, “The Titor managed to beam Kino and the TARDIS out but we couldn't transport any bombs in. We think they adapted their shields to thwart that.”

“Whatever,” Edward brushed him off, “I'm wasting time up here, I need to be on the ground. Fighting whatever they have down there.”

Edward opened another portal, he and Vert headed through it, emerging within a suburban area. A trio of drones spotted then and marched in their direction. Edward pointed Stormbreaker at them, electrocuting two with a burst of lightning. He smashed the hammer into the ground, toppling the third.

“Alright 'Tubes', I want you to send a message to your boss, whoever or whatever it is. Tell him that I am here and that you better get of my rock or there'll be hell to pay, understood?” Edward demanded, lifting the soldier up and off the ground.

“[Resistance is futile],” it recited.

“Yeah, add that too. I'm gonna kick all of your arses and sell you for scrap.”

“[You will be assimilated]”

“In your electric dreams,” he growled through gritted teeth.

The soldier poked it's arm into the side of Edwards head, Edward was deafened by a cacophonous ringing, dropping the drone and his borrowed weapon. It then grabbed him by the throat but before it could act on that, Vert had appeared beside them and sliced its arm off.

“Didn't I do that for you earlier?” He asked. Veritas shrugged. Edward shoved the drone back onto the ground and dropped the hammer onto his remaining arm, crushing it. He then crouched down, looking the drone directly in the eye.

“Are you there Doctor? Pulling the strings on a legion of drones? At least you've dropped all pretence of acting in what's best for the Earth,” he lectured. He placed his gauntlet on the head of Stormbreaker, charging it with all four colours of the gems. He then thrust it into the air with his left hand, summoning a vast cloud which sent down hundreds of streaks of lighting throughout the town. Edward then switched hands holding the hammer-axe and placed his left hand on the face of the drone. A white mass started to envelope the drone. White lights started to dance around Edward and Veritas and in a flash of light he found himself standing in a moderate-sized room, round lights above and below him and an operator standing at a console. Sirrok then walked in with a half-dozen armed security officers.

“Goddammit,” he raved, waving his weapon around, “never use dematerialisation technology on me, ever!” Edward stumbled and fell on one knee, he began to breathe heavily as the world around him began to fade again, this time into black. As his head fell onto the floor he could see Veritas falling to the ground with him.

Images of the last several hours flew through his swimming mind, along with the images of several people yelling at him repeatedly, growing louder and louder until he woke up. Finding himself on a table in a bare, well-lit room. A bald, nebbish-looking man, appeared out of thin air.

“Greetings, I am your Doctor. How are you feeling?” the man asked.

“My eyes are sore and my brain feels like it's made of neutronium.” He groaned, “where's Veritas?”

“If you're referring to your companion with the deep black hair, she is in a separate room. She is proving as vexing as you are to analyse. My hypothesis is that you succumbed to fatigue and that she has a psychic attachment to you, as I am talking with her at this moment, as well. I have told her that you are awake and well,” he reported.

“Where's my weapons?” Edward asked, lucidly. “Is Burrah safe?”

“I'm told they were most difficult to remove, however I'm told that a non-organic unit was able to lift the axe-hammer. I hypothesised that they have some sort of variable graviton-based security and a blind spot regarding artificial life, so I initiated my hard light functionality and removed your other weapons and the other non-organic put them in secure storage. As for your town...”

The door slid open a chartreuse-skinned woman walked through it, “We've sent a dozen teams to engage remaining Borg in Burrah and surrounding areas, it will be safe.”

“Ah, First Officer Lu-üt. I was just informing this young, uh, individual of the troubles we had transporting his arms,” The hologram said.

Edward leapt to his feet and made strides for the door, walking through the hologram. He then lifted the gynoid aside and walked out the door. Lu-üt began to pursue him through the ships curved corridors.

“Where are you headed?” she asked, calmly.

“Somewhere I can open a portal in peace.”

“And after? I theorise based on your current state that you plan to engage the Borg Mothership,”

“You're a goddamned genius! How many clock cycles did it take for you to figure that out?” He asked facetiously.

“You will need your weapons. Follow me. To answer your question, my processor runs on an asynchronous circuit and does not contain any global clock signal.”

Lu-üt turned around and, after a moment's fuming, he set off behind her. They had not been walking long when she turned to face a door, it opened on its own, the two headed inside. Edward was surprised to see inside was a young individual in a white shirt and green trousers lying asleep on a table, twitching. He looked intensely at their face for a moment before recognising them, they were Kino.

He walked over to her side, “Jeez, girl, what happened to you?” he asked, quietly.

“A combination of traumatic stress and fatigue has sent her into shock. Sedatives are proving only mildly effective. She took the Mind Gemstone with her when she was beamed up to the mothership, she did not have it when we beamed her and the TARDIS aboard.”

“Ah shit, I can only imagine what he could do with that,” he dreaded.

“He has managed to synthesise the omega molecule. It is emitting energy which is benign in normal space, but is devastating in hyperspace. Enough to make all forms of warp-travel in the vicinity immensely hazardous.”

“So? That just rules out using the Space gem. We bust through his ship with the others I have,” he shrugged.

“Negative, the amount of energy needed to penetrate all layers of his elaborate field will result in superheating the atmosphere, like your star-siphon beam.”

“Ah, crud,” Edward's mood soured further, “We could use the TARDIS, it moves in 5 dimensions, bypassing hyperspace but,” a revelation dawned on Edward, “it'll be what the Doctor wants. Do we have a 'plan B'?”

“Negative,” the First Officer responded, “as a condition of your stay here, you are charged with the duty of aiding the young woman any way you can.”

“Right,” he looked back at her and leaned in close to her ear, “Kino, it's Edward. I can help you, I have the Soul GemStone. Just say 'yes' and I'll use everything in my considerable power to ease your suffering.”

Kino opened up her eyes and met his. She reached her hand out, Edward took it into his.

“Please, Kino, just say 'yes', I need to hear it!” he urged her.

She opened her mouth slightly. Edward leaned in closer, putting his hear next to her head.

“Yes,” she breathed.

Edward clenched his gauntlet, touching the Soul GemStone to her solar plexus.

“We'll make this right,” Edward assured her. He stood up and walked up the gynoid, he noticed Veritas standing in the doorway.

“I want to speak to the captain.”

Lu-üt pressed the badge on her chest, asking Sirrok for permission, after receiving it the trio split. Vert and Lu-üt headed off to secure storage while Edward was escorted to the ship's bridge. As the elevator opened up he noticed the view outside, the ship stood above a body of water, which Edward assumed was near Burrah.

“Sit-rep!,” he barked.

“I give the orders here, Orson,” Sirrok reminded him, “Bad news about your Ark II ship; it's being held in the atmosphere, along with us, by a tractor beam. With the stone's raw energy, he has plenty to go around.” Sirrok explained.

Edward crossed his arms as he approached the viewscreen.

“I could open up a time tunnel in the center of it,” Ensign Berry piped up.

“No,” Edward dismissed, “we'll lose the Doctor and the stone. Can I ask for a scan of the area, life, energy outputs, anything you can give.”

“Granted,” Sirrok assented, “All units, broad sweep.”

“Can I get a hail to the Ark II?” Edward asked.

“Granted, hail them.”

General Amniculus' distressed face appeared on the viewscreen, “What is it? Oh, Edward, my apologies.”

“It's fine, Sirrok delay any reporting until we disconnect, please?”

“Um, alright?”

“I want to know you shot down all the leviathans.” Edward requested, winking so slightly that the General almost missed it.

“No, sir. Despite the chaos we _certain_ to destroy ever single Leviathan before it made planetfall.”

Edward turned around made a neck-cutting gesture, the window flickered off to show the mothership.

“You got that right?” Edward asked.

“I see,” Sirrok raised an eyebrow, “The Doctor's manoeuvre served two purposes.”

“Sir we're picking up phazon radiation underneath the water.” An operator reported.

“Sirrok, take me to the nearest beaming station thing, I can survive the conditions in the leviathan. Just beam my weapons down with me.”

“You presume to order me?” Sirrok asked, indignant. Edward raised an eyebrow at him, he raised one back, “I don't mean to sound like a Vulcan, but his logic is sound, send him down with his weapons.”

Edward tensed up as he rematerialised inside the sunken leviathan. Water seeped in, flowing over the electric blue roots. White lights began to encircle Edward and the area before dispersing. Edward suddenly found himself tumbling across the roots until coming to a stop in a pit with oozing blue goo. He hopped up to his feet and summoned his weapons, sheathing Stormbreaker on his back. He saw another light out the side of his eye, he faced it to see Dark Samus; it had mechanical parts embedded in it, like the soldiers he fought in Burrah.

“Working for the Doctor now? You don't seem each other's type of company; you, an addict with a toxic appetite, him, a vagabond philanthropist. Or, I should say former philanthropist, now he's just another would-be conqueror, he'll fall under my hammer, or Thor's.”

Dark Samus aimed its arm cannon at him. Edward ducked and deployed his shield, absorbing the sonic blast it shot. He aimed his cannon at him and began to siphon off energy from the surrounding phazon, flanking it as he did. Dark Samus rolled into a sphere and began to zigzag up the leviathan's walls. Ed took out one of the pistols from his belt and fired white energy at the spherical foe but failed to hit it. The ball suddenly fell to the ground, uncurling back into a humanoid shape. Edward took his chance and clenched his gauntlet within the arm-cannon, then fired a stream of multicoloured energy from it, every shot crashed into Dark Samus, flinging him to a protruding rock. Edward vanished his arm-cannon, unsheathing Strombreaker and approaching the wounded Borg soldier.

“Do you think I'm in the mood for mercy, Doctor?” he called, standing over Dark Samus, “let me remind you of what happens when you decide to stray so far from your principles!”

He swung the hammer, dropping it on Dark Samus' head and smashing it. He sent out a wave of purple energy, breaking the leviathan apart and exposing him to the vast chamber it sat within. Looking around, he could see two other leviathans lying in the room around him.

“Doctor!” he shouted, “face me and accept your due judgement! Your meddling in Earth's affairs ends now!”

Edward listened to his words echo around the room and back at him. He looked at Stormbreaker and began to contemplate his situation. He recalled his time under the influence of the creature that had now bonded itself to Alucard and how it's spawn wrought havoc on the world with his assistance. He placed his helmeted head onto the side of Stormbreaker's axe head.

“[Edward.]” A voice called, startling him out of his introspection. “[It has been only a few months since we last met for you, but for me it has been several centuries. The TARDIS has been merciful on me, mercy I took for granted, sending me to problems I was capable of solving. The Space GemStone, however, was not so kind; sending me into the vacuum of space, deep in the heart of Borg territory. I awoke to find I had already been assimilated. After a dozen regenerations, I had grown accustomed to changing mindsets. This is no different, aside from the additional memories. I have learned the ugly reality; death, conflict, pain.... they will not end without assimilation. I endeavour for Earth to be the first world to be pacified through assimilation.]

“Oh fuck off! You have no right to act so high and mighty after turning yourself over to this.... this hive,” Ed spat. Clenching the gauntlet and sending out a wave of purple energy. The floor and walls of the room began to break apart. “Sirrok, lock onto the Doctor now!” he ordered. The Space GemStone began to glow as well. A portal opened up behind Edward and he backed through it, walking back onto the bridge of the Titor, an alarm sounded and red lights were flashing.

“Do you know what risk you ran with the mothership? If you fouled up you'd have rent Earth's subspace apart, for good!” Sirrok lectured. “Also, there was no way in hell I was going to beam the Doctor aboard, he did that himself. I've sent three dozen men to guard the TARDIS.”

“Oh please, between the Power and Space GemStones, I was able to send the ship out of the whole damned system and into a black hole. Also, I doubt he's after that.”

“Sir, sensors indicate that the Mind GemStone is also aboard the ship.” An operator announced.

Edward opened another portal and walked through, exiting it into the medical center's hallway. He could hear several raised voices behind a door.

“No!” A young voice protested, “I do NOT want to be assimilated. I left my hometown because of people like you!”

The Medical Hologram appeared out of thin air beside him, startling him.

“I would not recommend going in there, the augmented Doctor is armed with a sonic and a chemical propulsion weapon.” It advised.

“Shh!” Edward hissed loudly, moving his head close to the door.

“[I am done with the paradigm of wandering from time to time, place to place, suppressing evil temporarily. Evil needs to be ended, with whelming force,]” the Doctor's synthetic voice preached.

“B-but aren't you the evil you're fighting against?” Kino asked rhetorically.

“[I am beyond such notions and soon, you will be too. Where we were once travellers, we will become omnipresent. Where we were once fighters of evil, we will become it's ultimate conquerors. We will take this ship and assimilate all life in the universe, past, present, and future.]”

“Then give me my persuader,” Kino asked sternly, “prove to me that you're the Doctor that I trust.”

“[You will not need it].”

“No, but you need to give it back.”

Several armed security officers rushed quietly down the hall. Edward flailed his arms, urging them to wait. After a few moments tense silence a loud booming noise rang out and the wall of the recovery room bulged out, startling the officers and Edward. He stood back as the officers fired their phazers at the door, cutting a hole in it in seconds. Edward rushed through to find the room filled with smoke rushing out of a vent in the roof, as it cleared he saw the Doctor lying on the ground and Kino holding a weapon in her hands, blood pouring out of her ears.

“My dear Kino, you've deafened yourself. Please come with me and we'll regenerate your eardrums.” The hologram casually gestured his request at her. Edward clenched his gauntlet, a dark blue flash forced the Mind Gem out of the Doctor's forehead into his hand. He then place it in the center of his gauntlet, lines of red, light and dark blue, red and orange to coursed throughout him.

**Chapter 17: The Last GemStone**

Edward sat, meditating in one of the Titor's docking rooms, looking from the Truth GemStone on his left hand to the Infinity Gauntlet on his right, Stormbreaker sat in front of him, upside down. Contemplating whether to risk using his counterfeit GemStone in place of the time-controlling stone. A door opened up and the ship's captain entered.

“I noticed you wasted no time in applying the Mind GemStone to your gauntlet. Smashing galaxies should be simple work for you, so what act of divinity will you perform first?” Sirrok asked, slimily.

“We have an idiom on Earth; 'Speak softly and carry a big stick', I elect to tread lightly as well. I've carried items of great power before, I guess I got immune to the euphoria that comes with an influx of that sort,” Edward replied sincerely.

“You also have something much simpler, an observation; 'Power corrupts, and absolute power...' so on and so forth.”

“I contend that a lust for power is an essential prerequisite, without it power becomes burdensome. I wish to set this right as thoroughly as possible, I do not desire the Infinity GemStones beyond that,” Edward claimed. He raised the gauntlet, showing Sirrok the glow of the light-blue and purple gems. “Stormbreaker doesn't seem to be fond of me anymore, I guess we disagree on how necessary it was to kill Dark Samus, I've freed his owner of mind control and his fellow avengers. I can't seem to be able to find Tony Stark though. We have bigger fish to fry, GemWorld's sending a fleet of their elites.” Edward opened up a portal underneath Stormbreaker, swallowing it up.

Edward and the senior staff, including Fuller, Lu-üt and Captain Sirrok sat in the Titor's conference room.

“Between the incalculable energy signature and the increasing burst of chroniton particles. It's virtually a certainty that the Time GemStone is located on the east coast of America, specifically a place called 'Beach City'.” Lu-üt explained.

“Well, Edward?” Sirrok turned to him.

“There's a few Gemkind refugees living there,” Edward began, “rebels who helped free Earth from GemWorld's grip several millennia ago. I personally determined that they were of no threat to the rest of society. In fact, I dare say they're good people. The empire they were fighting, is rigidly caste based along with other things I imagine go against the principles of all present.”

Everyone except Lu-üt and Sirrok nodded slightly.

Counsellor Saluk spoke up, “I've mind-melded with Kino and the Doctor, Kino is still wounded, psychologically but I believe she will recover, as for the Doctor... he is still an empty shell.”

“The Medical Hologram informs me that he and assistants are 40% through the operation to remove as many of his augmentations and as much of the shrapnel as is safe,” Lu-üt reported.

“Any plan of approach for the Time GemStone?” Sirrok asked.

“Persuasion,” the gynoid First Officer pitched, “She will be able to pre-empt any aggressive measures we take against her.”

“Impossible,” Edward dismissed, “the virus that my Truth GemStone was infected with on the GemWorld transmitted to the six actual stones, because of the green girl's atemporal nature, the virus travelled back to when she first emerged, which was when that.... that hybrid grabbed the Mind-GemStone. I think the virus was then transferred from her to four of the other five.”

“Why only four?” Sirrok was compelled to ask.

“Mental fortitude is one of the things that the Mind GemStone grants, saved me on numerous occasions, I can only guess it immunised her to the virus.”

“You have it now,” the Romulan captain stated.

“Yeah, but I don't think I can cure her even temporarily, with it.”

“So, how can you cure it?”

“During one of my time-loops on GemWorld, it's a long story, I convinced Queen Diamond to tell me how; she alone is incapable, but the four most powerful diamonds, Pink, Blue, Yellow, along with the Queen herself, can unmake it. Unfortunately, the Queen also told me that Pink has been shattered... killed.”

Silence fell over the room. Most of the senior staff had looks of defeat on their faces. Sirrok rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat.

“We will need to travel back in time to when she is alive, then,” Lu-üt suggested.

“When and where?” Edward asked. Lu-üt did not reply. “How's this: we obstruct the GemWorld fleet, stop them from making planetfall. Wring them of their portion of the cure, along with as much information on their late sister as we can get, and find Pink Diamond in the past.”

“Then we better get ready for them,” Sirrok resolved, “Edward, how long do we have?”

Edward concentrated and clenched the gauntlet. “They're energised and travelling in subspace, they'll be here in two hours and forty-seven minutes.”

A quarter of an hour later, Edward stood waiting outside Veritas' temporary room in the Titor. He had retracted much of his armour into a bodysuit and portalled his weapons away. After several more moment's waiting, he knocked on the door, which slid into the wall in response. It's interior was dimly lit and sparsely decorated, there were no decorations and little furniture aside from a table next to a lounge. To his right he could see a doorway to a bathroom, with a sink and mirror setup.

“In here,” he heard Veritas say to his left. He turned to see a large bed, Veritas and Lu-üt were lying on it, Veritas wore only a black sarong and her sidetails over her breasts. Lu-üt was only white lingerie. Edward stared in surprise.

“Lu-üt told me these were your quarters,” he insisted.

“They are, she's sharing them with me,” Vert insisted.

“I wish to analyse the Soul GemStone, Veritas told me that you would be co-operative if we engaged in sexual congress,” the off-duty officer disclosed.

“Why Soul, specifically?” he asked, quizzically and still in benign shock. He sat at the foot of the bed, listening closely at the gynoid's response.

“The existence of the soul is a point of contention within the federation since before its founding, proving to be more elusive than the Higgs boson, gravity waves, dark matter, et cetera. Like how we confirmed the existence of gravity waves by searching for them to be emitted in massive quantities, we can begin to detect the soul through their presence in that ingot.” She detailed, holding a device up against the orange stone.

“I'm sure there's easier methods than scanning that. You could get deceptive readings.” Edward criticised.

“There used to be a section of the federation bent on detecting the energies of the soul, especially after contact with a race of spiritually attuned avians and their creation they called the 'Metroid'.”

“Oh!” Edward exclaimed brightly, “you're talking about the Chozo! I know of them. Seems to be missing the point of detecting souls, you're not supposed to use some gadget.”

“I don't know if you've noticed but she _is_ a gadget, Ed!” Veritas interjected, “let her use the tricorder. This whole idea of 'feel, dont think' I think is the blind leading the blind and you're the last person I expected to blindly lead in matters like this.”

Edward nodded, conceding her point, “you're right, I'm try to be a 'logic first, faith second' guy.”

“And isn't it logical that we should have some.... recreation time before tackling the GemWorld fleet?” Veritas proposed.

“Well, I guess. Do you concur, Lu-üt?” Ed asked the chartreuse-coloured woman.

“I do concur.”

“Well... I guess that's that.”

Edward vanished his bodysuit, revealing his toned, lithe arms and torso. He nervously crawled over her synthetic body and placed a hand on her shoulder, it's natural-feeling warmth surprised him. Her skin twinkled in the dull light. Veritas lay on her side, admiring the other two as they grew physically closer. He gazed into her eyes as her pupils quivered. She ran her hands gently down his sides and chest. He gently kissed her neck as he laid his body on hers. Seeing Veritas tugging at Lu-üt's panties, Ed parted his legs and placed them around hers as Veritas slid her underwear off. She then pushed Ed to her right hand side, leaping over the two and pulling herself close to his back.

“C'mon, man, stick it in already~” she urged.

Lu-üt rolled onto her side to face Ed and lifted her left hand leg over his waist, sliding him into her. He shuddered with pleasure and began thrusting as he placed his left arm under her head, wrapping it behind her head. He ran his other hand over her leg around him, only to realise that the gauntlet still covered it. He clasped it, causing the dark blue gem to glow, sliding off onto the floor. He place his hand on her firm ass as he continued to thrust faster and more furiously. Vert kissed his neck and slid her left arm under his neck, as Lu-üt rubbed his side. She ran her other hand on his ass sending a wave of bliss through him. He began to gasp, slowing down his bucking motions. The gynoid rolled onto her other shouler and Edward rolled onto her back, breathing heavily into it.

She picked up the gauntlet with her right hand and examined it, she dropped it into her left and slid her hand into it. Five streams of light streamed from it, along her arm and into her head.

“Uh, we'll need that back, thank you,” Vert urged, growing worried. Edward staggered onto his knees, still fatigued. Lu-üt clenched the gauntlet, causing the Space, Power and Reality GemStone to glow. A cloud enveloped her and she vanished. Ed stumbled to the dormitory door, failing to open it.

“Dammit, she's trapped us in a pocket dimension.”

Lu-üt emerged at the bridge, using the Reality GemStone to materialise a uniform around her.

“The gauntlet has been acquired,” she reported to Sirrok, lifting it to her chest.

“Good,” Sirrok smirked, “you should have adequate power to take on the Time GemStone, head down to the surface, bring it back.”

Edward placed his left hand on Vert's head, she closed her eyes and opened them to see herself standing in the weapons store with Lu-üt. She snatched her sword, dashed out of the room and down the hallway, entering a lift.

“Medical,” she requested.

Kino sat in the emergency room, the Medical Hologram was running a device over her.

“Can you hear me, young lady?” the hologram asked.

“Yeah, in-fact I haven't been able to hear this clearly in ages. All that shooting left a ring in my ear.” Kino replied with understated gratitude.

“Tinnitus can be a menace, all that gunfire is not helping,” he tried to sympathise.

“I don't usually use the high-powered rounds in such cl-,”

Vert barged in and grabbed her hand.

“You're good right?” she asked. Kino and the Hologram nodded, which was all she needed for her to rush the young traveller out.

“You're going down to the surface, Kino. You need to let the crystal gems know that the Time GemStone is a threat,” Vert hastily instructed her.

“This is a lot to take in all of a sudden,” Kino nervously replied.

“Crystal Gems good, Time Gem bad!”

Veritas sliced a door open, heading through it into a transporter room. She pointed to the pads and Kino hurried over to them. Veritas pressed several buttons, enveloping Kino in dancing lights and vanishing her.

Edward opened his eyes, he still stood in Lu-üt's room but now he was alone. He shouted “Alight,” and his armour enveloped him. A metallic roaring noise filled the rooms and the TARDIS materialised in front of him. It's doors opened and the Doctor, still sporting metal protrusions, stood out.

“I got your message, I hope you're going to rescue dear Veritas,” the Doctor admonished him. Edward rolled his eyes, striding past him and into the blue box.

“Of course, we'll get her and then we're going back a few millenia,” he nodded. He leaned back on a railing as the Doctor started to fiddle with switches on the hexagonal console. The roaring started again, dying down quickly. Edward strolled over to the doors and opened them, letting Veritas run inside.

“Right,” Veritas began, “looks like you need your weapons, I sure do. Lets go get them.”

Vert and Edward hastily closed the doors. The TARDIS sounded again and rattled slightly before falling silent once more. They opened the doors again, ahead of them were crystalline vessels firing upon a pyramid-shaped structure.

“Dammit, Doc, I need my weapons,” he chastised the TARDIS' operator.

“And I'm not letting as much as a butter knife onto my ship! I'd strip you of that armour too if I could,” the Time-Lord shot back, “I owe you for getting me out of that ship, but no more!”

“Alright, let's refocus here,” Vert interjected, “what the hell's going on out there?”

“Millenia ago, this planet was a battle-zone. Parasite pretending to be a god ruled Africa and europe, GemKind controlled what would become Russia and the United States and both were dealing with a rebellion problem within their respective domains. Doc, do you plan to land this thing or will you let us sit in the crossfire?,” he looked outside again, as one of the crystal ships exploded, “well, not the crossfire but the splash zone.”

Edward and Vert watched as the surface of the earth seemed to rush up to them. They began clutching their stomachs despite, or because of, the lack of a feeling of falling. They landed near a pair of humanoid Gems guarding an alcove containing only a shining gem platform. Ed walked out while Veritas stayed standing at the entrance, stopping the Doctor as he began to exit as well.

“It was Ed's idea to use the TARDIS,” she clarified to him.

“Yeah, and he needed me to pilot it into the pocket he found himself stuck in. Warping the timeline like that is dangerous, it's less like exposing skin to the sun and more like exposing it to a laser. Time travel is no toy! It's one thing to mess with history that you haven't personally seen, changing your own timeline is courting disaster,” He lectured her.

The two walked out onto the beach, they saw Edward in a standoff with the guards. Vert, having gotten a proper look at them, could see that the were Topazes.

“An audience with Pink Diamond is all I want. I want to show my driver down there that I can be reasonable,” he negotiated begrudgingly. In response, they simply swung their maces at him, missing him as he ducked and weaved. Edward made a fist with his right hand, as the forearm bulked up, jets burst forth from the back of his arm, forcing it forward and into the chest of one of the guards. The other swung it's weapon at him, bouncing off a shield that grew out from his left arm. He slammed his bulked fist into them, cracking them and knocking them down. Edward beckoned at them to hurry up the curved pathway with him.

The three stood on top of the crystal platform. A light shot forth from the surface, shunting them through a spiralling cloud before gently dropping them onto another platform inside a tower. Rectangular platforms around the room lit up and began to float, forming a staircase around the inside wall of the round tower. They could hear two pairs of footsteps, one hasty and the other moving much slower. A slender Pearl Gem dropped down, armed with a spear. Her dress, a transparent skirt and a leotard reminded the three of a ballerina.

“Whoa, we come in peace,” Edward said nervously.

“Yeah, we've gotten this far. Your best bet is to talk your way out of this and put that spear away,” the Doctor firmly requested.

“Nonetheless I will not suffer gladly you invading my lady's inner sanctum,” Pearl stood firm.

“Please stand down, my Pearl. These people are determined to see me and would've already done me harm if they meant it. I say we talk,” a pink woman rationalised. The three looked at her, her hair resembled a cloud, the shoulders and thighs of her dress were flared and on her navel lay a pink diamond, pointing up.

The orbs on Edward's mouthpiece vibrated briefly, letting off a small buzz. He then retracted his helmet to let her look him in his eyes.

“Your highness,” he bowed, the Doctor and Vert following him.

“Oh, you needn't. I'm not your sovereign and you three don't even look like you're from here,” she waved off, bashful.

“Correct, in a way,” he showed her the gem on his left hand, “This used to be one of your kind, a black pearl. I bequeathed her as much power as I could from objects called the Infinity GemStones, think of it as a liberating measure. Unfortunately this didn't last long, I would up wearing it myself. White Diamond has infected it with a virus and-”

“A black pearl?” she asked, quizzically, “are you sure? I can tell from a glance that, despite all the changes you've made, what you wear on your hand is a bort.”

“A Bort?” Ed replied, equally unsure.

“They dwell in the margins of our society. Absorbing the emotions of other Gemkind. White made the virus to exploit this and mutate them, convince them that they're other, orderly, members.” She grimly detailed. “Let me give you my portion of the cure, that's what you're here for, right?” she offered.

“No!” her Pearl protested, “don't just hand her the cure. She could be working with the enemy!”

“Her?” Edward muttered. “But she has a point, so let me just take out someone for you. I noticed a battle going on when we arrived here.”

“Quick to offer your brawn, aren't you?” the Doctor asked, disparagingly.

“If you're good at something, bargain with it. I can respect that,” Edward commented.

“It seems one of the enemy wants to seize my east coast. He calls himself the 'world eater'. Come up here,” she beckoned them.

The five walked up the floating staircase and entered a room with a chair behind a control panel.

“Well, Doc, wanna ring them?” Edward asked him.

The Doctor, the Pink Diamond and the Pearl fiddled with the controls, talking animatedly about rerouted communications and frequency modulating. Eventually they were able to receive a voice, deep and distorted.

“Who is this?” the voice demanded.

“We're here to talk with the 'world eater',” Edward declared, “some guy with a snake in his head, izzat you?” he asked much more casually.

“Edward Orson, I knew you would be here. You're not the only one with knowledge one should not have,” the voice revealed to Edward and Vert's shock.

“Well, alright. My reputation precedes me... transcending linear time at that. Can't say the same for you, can I? Whoever you are?” He recovered and fired back.

“The impudence! I am Jormungandr and you will kneel at my feet!” it replied, outraged.

“Deal! We parlay on the beach at these co-ordinates dusk!” he asserted, perfoming a throat-cutting gesture. The Doctor pressed several buttons and cut off the transmission. “Alright Pink, next you order all your forces to give us as wide a berth as possible. Next, I want Pearl to get into contact with Garnet and Amethyst, I want her stored in her gems. Yes, Pearl, I knew I recognised you, you're working with the rebels and I know you know them.

“W-what, I, uh, don't know what you're talking about!!” Pearl stammered.

“Look, a few thousand years from now, we'll be uneasy allies. Bring Amethyst and Garnet here, then you can build up on that foundation of trust over the next many MANY years.”

“Dear Pearl, it seems he knows.” She stated cooly, but ashamedly. “I am the leader of the rebellion. I am so bored of ruling Gemkind,” she said, despondent.“I only wish to live amongst them and the humans. The other diamonds are fixated on nothing except order. Jormungandr is no different,” she walked up to Edward, taking his hands into hers and placing the four together between them. “Please stop him.”

“I will, I'll kill him if I must,” Edward promised, darkly.

Edward stood near the beach, in an open plain, wearing rags all over his body. Pearl had handed him two gems, a ruby and a sapphire, wrapped in a brown cloth, the cloth itself was tired to his waist, under the rags. A large pyramid-shaped structure like what he saw from space descended. As it floated to a halt above him, an opening appeared and several rings dropped down, coming to a stop around him. Edward closed his eyes and twisted his head around nervously as he dissolved from lights coming in from inside the inner rims of the hoops. Next thing he saw, the hoops dropped down into the dark, stony floor. As they left, he found himself surrounded by humans wielding snake-like staves, they wore metal armour and couple even wore an angular snake-like helmet. One tied his hands together with rope while another shoved him out of the room, marching him through ornate corridors lined with gold pillars and more dark granite flooring and walls. They twisted him and pushed him between pillars marked with glyphs. One rotated a snake symbol opening up a smooth rocky wall and forcing him into a large room, towards a cloaked man reclining on a throne.

“Lemmie guess, you want Australia.” Edward sardonically asked him.

“Ahahaha, you're truly the man out of time I sought and you have no idea,” Jormungandr chortled, cockily. His voice boomed demonically.

“Uh, I'm just the negotiator,” Edward asserted unsurely.

“Spineless of the gems to send a native but in doing so they played right into my hands. I'll have the vengance the Infinity GemStones could never attain.” He took off his hood.

“Oh, shit.” Edward uttered quietly, looking onto Jormungandr's familiar face.

It was Tony Stark.

*****TO BE CONTINUED*****


End file.
